A historical term for an Indian chief or landowner; variant spelling of begun or begum.
From Hindi/Urdu begun (chief), which comes from Persian beg (chief, master). This word entered English during colonial India when British writers encountered local titles and attempted to transliterate them.
Colonial vocabulary is often a linguistic museum of misunderstandings—English speakers tried to write down Indian titles phonetically, creating multiple spellings like 'begani,' 'begun,' and 'begum' for what was essentially the same word.
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